Scan barcode
mad_about_books's review
5.0
It was August 2010 when I first read BITE CLUB, and I loved it! It is now 2020, and I thought it was about time to revisit West Hollywood with the novel that started it all. This time, rather than reading, I listened to the audiobook. Listening in 2020 is significant; listening in October 2020 made it eye-opening.
On the surface, BITE CLUB is still a cozy mystery, yet there is an undercurrent that has new bite today.
One does not usually think of a murder mystery as a fun book, but BITE CLUB will surely change your mind. Hal Bodner has a way with a story that will suck you into the action then deliver a right cross to your funny bone. Oh yes, and get your mind out of the gutter. This is not gay pornography; it is a character driven tale that provides very human insight into alternate lifestyles, including those of some alternate species.
WeHo has a serial killer. The bodies are piling up. The mayor is a straddle-the-fence, please everybody politician. The city manager is the other side of 60, opinionated, foul-mouthed, and with the fashion sense of a blind drag queen. The chief of police works at not pissing off the city manager. The coroner eats junk food with one hand while examining the dead body with the other. Can you see where this is going? What about the bite? That would be telling.
Overall, the narration is pretty good. I was a bit nonplussed by Kitty Hendrix's pronunciation of some simple words… "wanely" for "wanly" - "r-sing" for "arcing" - "esque" for "eschew". There were several others. I also found that her character voices didn't match the voices I've had in my head for the past ten years. She is a pleasant enough reader, but I feel that there are surely others that could have done a better job.
Here is a tale that will keep you listening well into the night to see who is going to come out on top. It's not quite a roller coaster, but you may find yourself biting your nails, then welling up with emotion, and last, but not least, laughing out loud at the antics of this diverse cast of characters.
On the surface, BITE CLUB is still a cozy mystery, yet there is an undercurrent that has new bite today.
One does not usually think of a murder mystery as a fun book, but BITE CLUB will surely change your mind. Hal Bodner has a way with a story that will suck you into the action then deliver a right cross to your funny bone. Oh yes, and get your mind out of the gutter. This is not gay pornography; it is a character driven tale that provides very human insight into alternate lifestyles, including those of some alternate species.
WeHo has a serial killer. The bodies are piling up. The mayor is a straddle-the-fence, please everybody politician. The city manager is the other side of 60, opinionated, foul-mouthed, and with the fashion sense of a blind drag queen. The chief of police works at not pissing off the city manager. The coroner eats junk food with one hand while examining the dead body with the other. Can you see where this is going? What about the bite? That would be telling.
Overall, the narration is pretty good. I was a bit nonplussed by Kitty Hendrix's pronunciation of some simple words… "wanely" for "wanly" - "r-sing" for "arcing" - "esque" for "eschew". There were several others. I also found that her character voices didn't match the voices I've had in my head for the past ten years. She is a pleasant enough reader, but I feel that there are surely others that could have done a better job.
Here is a tale that will keep you listening well into the night to see who is going to come out on top. It's not quite a roller coaster, but you may find yourself biting your nails, then welling up with emotion, and last, but not least, laughing out loud at the antics of this diverse cast of characters.
mackle13's review
2.0
I believe this book came to my attention a few years back via a recommendation - but I couldn't say who rec'd it to me. I kind of wish I could remember, though, so I could go back to them and just be like, "Really?"
I mean, it wasn't the worst book I ever read, but the humor just didn't work for me. It was far too dependent on a) stereotypes and b) pratfalls (and slapstick comedy is iffy with me even in visual format. In written format it just didn't work for me at all).
I was more annoyed by the stereotypes than anything, especially the female coroner who eats her emotions and is fat and sloppy - to the point where she can't get through an autopsy or a crime scene without pulling out some candy and getting crumbs and jelly and shit all over the place.
She's paired up with a fastidious cop who keeps a spare shirt in his office for her visits, so that he can change after.
I mean, hysterical, right?
Aside from that, the mystery wasn't really a mystery because it tells the reader who the killer is about halfway through. In the beginning they built up the vampire serial killer and told about his victims in erotic detail... and it was actually kind of creepy.
And then that just went by the wayside when he's actually introduced and the whole thing is just that
Ugh.
The one funny line in the whole book that I remember was the one vampire guy telling the coroner lady that he could go outside back in Philadelphia because, 'it's almost always overcast there'.
Well, honey, I love in Philadelphia, and I just happened to be reading this on a hot, humid, bright-as-fuck summer day. Seattle this is not...
Meh.
(I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 because it wasn't unbearable. Just tedious.)
I mean, it wasn't the worst book I ever read, but the humor just didn't work for me. It was far too dependent on a) stereotypes and b) pratfalls (and slapstick comedy is iffy with me even in visual format. In written format it just didn't work for me at all).
I was more annoyed by the stereotypes than anything, especially the female coroner who eats her emotions and is fat and sloppy - to the point where she can't get through an autopsy or a crime scene without pulling out some candy and getting crumbs and jelly and shit all over the place.
She's paired up with a fastidious cop who keeps a spare shirt in his office for her visits, so that he can change after.
I mean, hysterical, right?
Aside from that, the mystery wasn't really a mystery because it tells the reader who the killer is about halfway through. In the beginning they built up the vampire serial killer and told about his victims in erotic detail... and it was actually kind of creepy.
And then that just went by the wayside when he's actually introduced and the whole thing is just that
Spoiler
he's old and no one can tell him what to do, damnit! And you kids get off my lawn!Ugh.
The one funny line in the whole book that I remember was the one vampire guy telling the coroner lady that he could go outside back in Philadelphia because, 'it's almost always overcast there'.
Well, honey, I love in Philadelphia, and I just happened to be reading this on a hot, humid, bright-as-fuck summer day. Seattle this is not...
Meh.
(I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 because it wasn't unbearable. Just tedious.)
see_sadie_read's review
3.0
I don't always consider a book being cheesy as a bad thing. There have been plenty of cheesy stories I've really enjoyed laughing along with. Bite Club is unabashedly cheesy, purposefully camped up and totally over the top, and I mostly enjoyed that about it. I liked the fat, Jewish heroine. I liked that the rest of the cast was diverse. Mechanically the writing is fine and the narration by Kitty, that I listened to, is well done.
However, there is a thin line between having characters play up to and with their stereotypes and writing a stereotype. On several occasions I felt Bodner crossed the line into making fun, whether purposeful or not. I cringed more than once.
But my biggest problem with this book, and if I'm honest it barely made 3 stars because of this, is that Bodner frequently goes off on long, descriptive histories of characters that divert the plot. If a character is being introduced for the sole purpose of dying immediately, I don't need 15 pages of their life story. I certainly don't need that for a dozen or so victims that play no active part in the book, plus all the actual characters. It broke the story up into small chunks between long sections of unneeded exposition, making it feel very jagged.
All in all, I'll call this an all right read, not bad but not too good either.
However, there is a thin line between having characters play up to and with their stereotypes and writing a stereotype. On several occasions I felt Bodner crossed the line into making fun, whether purposeful or not. I cringed more than once.
But my biggest problem with this book, and if I'm honest it barely made 3 stars because of this, is that Bodner frequently goes off on long, descriptive histories of characters that divert the plot. If a character is being introduced for the sole purpose of dying immediately, I don't need 15 pages of their life story. I certainly don't need that for a dozen or so victims that play no active part in the book, plus all the actual characters. It broke the story up into small chunks between long sections of unneeded exposition, making it feel very jagged.
All in all, I'll call this an all right read, not bad but not too good either.
More...